Saturday, April 29, 2006
Pain at the Pump
Well I'm back, gentle readers. And like any good pseudo-media hack worth his salt I'll start off a post following a months-long hiatus by stealing, rehashing, and torturing the phrase du jour of every stinking media outlet in this country.
But despite the perversion of actually feeling happy this morning when finding 'cheap gas' at $3.01 a gallon, there's some interesting stuff here to chew on. Like how election-terrified GOPers are are talking tough against oil companies, some even mentioning the heresy of a windfall-profits tax.
And then our major media outlets are busy restating the obvious as 'news.' To wit, the nice folks at the NYT posted this on page one: Trading Frenzy Adding to Price of Oil. Turns out there are capitalists who don't mind people suffering if there's a buck to be made. Zowie!!!
So where to go with all of this? Well, some folks who are devotees of James Howard Kunstler (author of one of my favorite books " The Geography of Nowhere") find his very aptly titled blog says it all. There's no going back, it's just a matter of how bad can it get, and it'll get much worse.
For my money Kunstler's scenario is probably more right than wrong.
But in the short term, what's to be done, not just about oil and gas but the whole shebang. I agree with Aronson in his Nation article. Let's start talking seriously about socialism again, and in a positive sense. Is it really so absurd? I mean, sure that whole Soviet Union thing didn't work out too well, but at its heart that was just authoritarianism tarted up with slanted rhetoric. Real people power, real immediate democracy, that scares the bejesus out of the powers that be. It always has because it is inherently egalitarian.
And lets just look at how many democratic experiences went awry. In this century alone, mind you. Did anyone in the capitalist camp suggest that it was time to disregard the entire notion as a failure? Obviously not.
So pick up your rhetorical red-flags, Comrades, and hit the barricades. No violence or even Improvised Explosive Devices needed. Just start talking to regular folks. It just might work
Well I'm back, gentle readers. And like any good pseudo-media hack worth his salt I'll start off a post following a months-long hiatus by stealing, rehashing, and torturing the phrase du jour of every stinking media outlet in this country.
But despite the perversion of actually feeling happy this morning when finding 'cheap gas' at $3.01 a gallon, there's some interesting stuff here to chew on. Like how election-terrified GOPers are are talking tough against oil companies, some even mentioning the heresy of a windfall-profits tax.
And then our major media outlets are busy restating the obvious as 'news.' To wit, the nice folks at the NYT posted this on page one: Trading Frenzy Adding to Price of Oil. Turns out there are capitalists who don't mind people suffering if there's a buck to be made. Zowie!!!
So where to go with all of this? Well, some folks who are devotees of James Howard Kunstler (author of one of my favorite books " The Geography of Nowhere") find his very aptly titled blog says it all. There's no going back, it's just a matter of how bad can it get, and it'll get much worse.
For my money Kunstler's scenario is probably more right than wrong.
But in the short term, what's to be done, not just about oil and gas but the whole shebang. I agree with Aronson in his Nation article. Let's start talking seriously about socialism again, and in a positive sense. Is it really so absurd? I mean, sure that whole Soviet Union thing didn't work out too well, but at its heart that was just authoritarianism tarted up with slanted rhetoric. Real people power, real immediate democracy, that scares the bejesus out of the powers that be. It always has because it is inherently egalitarian.
And lets just look at how many democratic experiences went awry. In this century alone, mind you. Did anyone in the capitalist camp suggest that it was time to disregard the entire notion as a failure? Obviously not.
So pick up your rhetorical red-flags, Comrades, and hit the barricades. No violence or even Improvised Explosive Devices needed. Just start talking to regular folks. It just might work
